


And Let The Ash Cover My Footprints

by TaillessGiraffe



Series: Julia Gallanis [4]
Category: Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-04-05
Updated: 2015-04-05
Packaged: 2018-03-21 10:53:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 739
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3689532
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TaillessGiraffe/pseuds/TaillessGiraffe
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Lest they be followed. </p><p>{Series of snippets, varyling in length, relating Julia's story, from beggining to end. And some other not very crucial moments that happen in-between.}</p>
            </blockquote>





	And Let The Ash Cover My Footprints

**Author's Note:**

> Seeing as I'm awful at keeping up with the longer fics and that my dovahkiin's story was screaming for a revision, I decided to start writing little pieces about it. That way I can practice, have fun, put my thoughts in order and share with you the characters and events that I have thought for it, since there's nothing better for getting good at something than constructive criticism.
> 
> I'll keep adding tags, warnings and such as I go along. Also, should point out that like many other users I use a lot of mods that alter the main quest and add extra content to the game. Just to avoid any confusion! Like I said, I'll add tags whenever it is necessary. Thank you and hope you enjoy it!

It hadn’t been easy, but she made it.

Her own little cottage, away from the city and its corruption. Guarded by the Great Forest’s embrace - a green fortress of ancient, unyielding soldiers - enlivening her exhausted soul with the birds chirping in the morning and soothing it to sleep with the nightly tune from the crickets.

It was something she and her husband often dreamed about- one of the few luxuries they could afford while they spent their days breaking their backs in the fields just so they could enjoy a decent bowl of soup on their table at night.

No, it definitely hadn’t been easy, not after what they both went through: losing their family and most of their friends first to the war and then to the massacre brought by the Aldmeri upon the Imperial City; having to run away and hide with the rest of the refugees until the war finally reached its fateful conclusion…

When her husband, her dear Falx, knew what the White-Gold Concordat entailed, he refused to return home. Couldn’t stand the idea of living next to those who thought themselves entitled to take away a poor man’s faith. They moved south instead, settling in a small farming community and started from zero. The only thing they kept from their old life was the fantasy about a bright, wealthy future together gained with every saved coin they earned through hard, honest work.

Of course deep down they knew their fate was likely to live the last of their days in that small village and die leaving little to remember them by. They were dreamers, not naïve- and certainly far from rich. But they had each other, a roof over their heads and lived a somewhat peaceful life, after years of surviving in the middle of all the conflicts.

So the Gallanis considered themselves lucky, regardless of what awaited ahead.

No one could’ve imagined that after all those obstacles the gods would see fit to put them through another tragedy.

It was during an uneventful winter that had yet to bring a drop of snow with it, but that was cold enough for animals to seek refuge. After a good amount of gnawed baskets and eaten away sacks, Falx and a few other men took on the task to get rid of what seemed to be a rat infestation. One of the pesky creatures jumped at him before he could react, bit on his hand. And what he first dismissed as mere symptoms of fatigue turned out to be a very aggressive case of Blood lung, killing him hardly a few weeks later, exactly three days after he found out his wife was pregnant.

Despite the obvious concerns the news presented and the terrible pain she felt for her husband departing before his time, she was determined to see this pregnancy as another chance. A reason to keep moving forward and make a reality out of the dreams she and her husband shared, as some kind of gift for their child to relish.

His death didn’t leave any inheritance, but their neighbors, good friends by then, took pity on the pregnant widow. And with what help they could give and the money she got after selling their modest property, she had enough to buy an abandoned shack that used to belong to the mother of one of the neighboring women.

A year later, after a lot of work and what friendships she could resort to, she moved out of the neighbor’s room she had been renting and made of the renewed sack her new home.

Now, standing in front of it and hoping Falx was watching and smiling down at them from Aetherius, the glowing mother looked at her daughter’s face, eyes and grin bearing a dazzling resemblance to the father – so much that a faint sting of nostalgia still came over her whenever she looked into the baby’s blue eyes, or brushed that messy little mane of black hair – and she smiled back at her child, hugging her tightly.

It hadn’t been easy, no. It hadn’t been easy at all. But in the end, Julia had made it. And with her daughter the name Gallanis would live on, hopefully through an era free of senseless killings or wars that never ended.

Laetitia would have it all, the life her parents could only dream about, and nothing would stop Julia from helping her achieve it.


End file.
